Wednesday, February 23, 2011

and someday Man will walk on the Moon

Interesting discussion on the ALSC-L listserv: they are discussing what to do with Judith St. George and David Small's So You Want to Be President, which, last revised in 2004, includes the statement that "no person of color has been President." On the one hand it is dated and inaccurate; on the other, the original edition (ending with Bill Clinton) won the 2001 Caldecott Medal. What trumps what?

In any case, Scottie Bowditch at Penguin tells me that a revised edition (with some new pics as well) is due out next January.

I love it when I find a good/scary/funny title (let alone content) while weeding. Last week I found two winners: "Quaaludes", from the early 80s (now that kids are snorting bath salts, this title seemed so innocent and straightforward); and "Why the Chinese are the Way They Are" from the 60s.

As many of you will know, here at the Library of Congress there is an ongoing process of revising the terms found in Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH for short) to make them accurate and up-to-date. Sometimes the changes can be viewed as falling into the category of political correctness. Two changes that spring to mind that happened during my time as a cataloger were changing Afro-Americans to African Americans and changing Moving pictures to Motion pictures.

One type of heading that has always intrigued me is the "[topic] question" heading. Examples: Jewish question, Currency question, and Eastern question (Far East). I had one outraged coworker who used to huff and say indignantly, "What does that mean? What exactly is the question?" To which the only appropriate response is, "What is the question indeed?"

About Me

I've been the editor in chief of The Horn Book, Inc, since 1996; previously editor of The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books and a children's and young adult librarian. Received my M.A. in library science from the University of Chicago in 1982 and a B.A. from Pitzer College in 1978.